PORTLAND, Maine — A group of business leaders and state trade officials plans to head to Norway and Sweden on Tuesday for a weeklong trade mission focused on life science, marine technology and other ocean-related sectors.
The state’s first Scandinavian trade mission arrives in Oslo on Wednesday and will include sessions to help Maine businesses learn how to sell products to Norway’s public hospitals and to meet with maritime and ocean resource based businesses, which is a large part of trade between Maine and those two countries.
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In general, direct imports into Maine from Norway and Sweden outweighed exports last year, according to federal trade data.
Articles of iron or steel were the top import, followed by fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates.
The trip is led by the Maine International Trade Center’s North Atlantic Development Office, which has focused on trade between Maine and other countries in the North Atlantic.
Trade from Maine to that part of the world has gotten a boost from Icelandic shipper Eimskip’s decision to relocate its headquarters in Portland in 2013.
By weight, exports from the Port of Portland were up last year 123 percent from 2013 and were up 207 percent by total value, according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Indicators Division.
The trade mission concludes June 15.